Final Fantasy: Essence of Life
by LoneWolf11
Summary: An original Final Fantasy 10 years after a world wide earthquake people are finally getting their lives back together, unbeknownst to the world though a deadly force is emerging that could put all life on the planet in danger and although he doesnt know i
1. Chapter 1

Final Fantasy: Essence of Life

Chapter One: The Great Desert

The planet Inculta was a desolate planet with so very little water that the substance was almost considered holy, but the lack of water on the desert planet was not the greatest threat that it had and would ever face for something terrible would happen.

A great earthquake the world wide tore at the planet opening huge wounds in it baron surface and unleashing the energy with in the planet, the planet's soul, Essence, and this Essence depending on many things could be both a gift and a curse as many people lost their lives that day, the day that Inculta bled.

OOO

Ten years later…

The desert was vast, nothing to be seen for miles other than sand and rock, although the tips of mountains were visible just past the horizon in several directions as alone figure trudged onward through the vastness of this global wasteland.

The figure was a young man by the name of Dean Harkness, a slim built twenty-year-old with short light brown hair and blue eyes, the colour of water and shining with the energy of an ever-optimistic heart. His skin was slightly tanned, a by-product of walking through the blistering heat of the planet's sun, a heat that everything had long since grew accustomed too, for clothing he wore a cream tank top that fit his body tightly, his cream denim jacket was tied around his waist obviously too hot to be worn properly, his lower body was clothed in cream denim jeans and cream military boots, a pair of dark black goggles hung loosely around his neck ready to be used to shield his eyes in case a sand storm were to pick up.

A strange metallic device was held tightly in his hands, it looked strikingly similar to a metal detector with two handles but from the empty transparent canister on it and the tubes that led down to the circular sensor at the bottom it was most certainly not. It was, in fact, a water detector. In a place as vast and desolate as Inculta, water is precious and those who have it can sell it for great amounts of Gil. But from the look of boredom on his young features made it obvious that he wasn't having much luck at finding the water, that and of course the loud yell of…

"Damn it all!"

His voice was blisteringly loud in the quiet and vast surroundings as he tossed the strange device to the ground and crossed his arms over his chest, his voice filled with a rare trace of annoyance for the usually rather patient man.

"There's just no water out here…"

He sighed, his body relaxing and his shoulders slumping while his arms fell to his sides and he closed his eyes tiredly.

"Man…I've been out here for hours and still nothing…better get going I suppose…before some Phiends find me…"

He picked the device up and slung it over his shoulder before beginning his walk on, he'd travelled through this area of desert so much that even in its plainness he could tell exactly where he was; besides he had been taught by the best how to navigate through these burning waste lands.

The corners of his mouth turned up in a nostalgic smile as he recalled his life with the Desert Kin, the Children of the Sand. He didn't know much about how they'd found him, from what he had been told he was wandering about in the sands, naked and alone and looking like death warmed up. Several of the tribe had found him, and although they had strict laws against allowing outsiders into their homes the leader's son had been very adamant about letting Dean stay.

**And I never stopped thanking Stephen ever since that day…he was pretty much an older brother to me, he taught me to defend myself, how to navigate through the sand and how to survive…he was the only real family I ever had…**

His smile weakened slightly, but stayed none the less. He had no recollection of his life before the Desert Kin; they were all he really knew of his past. Never knowing the names of his parents, what they looked like or how they acted and although it grieved him greatly to think about this he still couldn't help but smile, as he knew that he did have a family in a way. After just a few days among the desert's nomadic race they had grown rather fond of him, he had become a part of them and treated him as one of their own. They were his family.

**And what a family! I mean, there was never a dull moment with Stephen around or his brother, the two always trying some new stunt to get at their father…and to think they're the heirs to the tribe's leadership…they were just too laid back…**

He laughed aloud to himself as he remembered the time the two had captured a rather large but relatively harmless spider and let it loose in their father's bed. The scream the Desert Kin leader had let out when he awoke was almost beyond what Dean thought humanly possible.

Just then he noticed something out of the corner of his eyes and he froze on the spot, his mind going blank as the sense of danger caused his well trained senses to flare, he slowly looked around the area managing to keep his steadily rising panic in check as he did so even though he was slowly coming to the realisation that he was unarmed.

There, movement to his left. He spun to face it and in the second it took him to make that simple movement the sand in front of him erupted into three separate forms and he staggered back falling down onto the burning sand as he took in the three creatures before him.

They were long, roughly two meters or so, with a rough texture to their cylindrical bodies, their skin just an offshoot of the colour of the sand they had erupted from. They didn't appear to have heads, instead the top half of their body opened to show rows upon rows of small but decidedly sharp and deadly teeth, they had no eyes but Dean knew the three large worms could see him and he muttered their name through gritted teeth.

"Sand worms…"

He was unarmed; apart from the water detector there was no real way he could fend these creatures off as they began to slither their way sinisterly towards the young man, who leaped to his feet. He knew his chances for survival were slim but he'd be damned if he'd let them take him down without a fight.

"Dean! Use this!"

A familiar voice rung though the air as it yelled his name and he turned his head slightly, his reflexes acting quickly enough to grab the object thrown towards him before he saw the familiar figure that had thrown it. His hand rose almost of its own accord, dropping the water detector as it did so, and grabbing the hilt of the bronze sword and readying himself for the creatures' attacks.

One leaped toward him, using its body as some kind of maniac spring, its viscous jaws open wide and ready to deal fatal damage to the twenty-year-old, that was if a loud bang of a gun firing didn't ring out and a projectile faster than any human eye could see struck it from the side and sent it sprawling across the sand, purple blood oozing out as it died almost instantly from the shot.

The other worms were distracted now, and it gave the water hunter enough time to get a good look at his saviour, and he couldn't help the smile that crossed his face. There, standing not ten feet from him was a man slightly taller than himself, messy brown hair and tanned skin, his eyes a strange shade of yellow that Dean knew all Desert Kin had, he was wearing a long brown cloak over his shoulders, its collar high and hiding the lower part of the man's face, the cloak at present only covered the man's right hand side as his left arm was raised and pointing a large revolver-handgun at the two remaining worms, smoke raising from the barrel. It was Stephen, but Dean couldn't continue his observations of his friend any longer as one of the two remaining worms lunged back toward him, with practised ease he let himself drift to the side, dodging the creature's attack then raising his sword into the air and bringing it down in one swoop through the creature's long body, cutting it in two, killing it instantly.

He spun back round, ready to attack the other worm, but only smiled as he saw it leap towards his friend which wasn't the smartest of things to do, when the worm was within arms reach of the Desert Kin the man moved with lightning reflexes, his left arm dropping to his side as the right of his cloak kick up and away from his, decidedly more dangerous arm and with nothing more than a glance of the bronze gauntlet that held a long silver and slightly curved blade that Dean knew his friend carried the worm dropped to the ground in several pieces.

"You really should carry some weapons or something Dean; I can't be around to save you all the time"

Dean locked eyes with his friend, and knew that the desert Kin was smiling behind his cloak, he couldn't help but smile back as he shook his head, he could now take more of a look at his old friend. He hadn't changed at all, he still wore that black chest plate under the cloak and the same brown baggy trousers with black knee pads, on his right arm he wore a simple bronze gauntlet that covered his entire lower arm and grasped tightly in it was the signature weapon of the Desert Kin a long and rather thick katana which put the regular sized bronzed broad sword Dean now carried to shame, and he even kept that ever relaxed air about him which just made the younger man smile even wider. Stephen hadn't changed at all.

But this made the young man curious; it was against the laws of the clan for one of the ruling family to leave alone, just why was his old friend here?

"Well thanks for the help Steve, but just why are you here anyway?"

Stephen shrugged as he holstered his revolver at his side and rested the back of his blade against his shoulder while looking at the ground, breaking eye contact with his friend; he then spoke but looked off into the distance so that he didn't make eye contact with the younger man.

"Well you know me, I get worried about you easily…" his voice carried a slight distance to it as if he wasn't really thinking his words and just saying them as an automatic answer, "I kind'a followed you ever since you left just to keep an eye on you…"

Dean knew there was more to it, but he also knew that getting Stephen to talk about something he didn't want to was near impossible so he just smiled at his friend and put the sword into the sheath on his back, it was meant for the water detector but right now the device was out of order to say the least as he caught a glimpse of its now two separate pieces on the ground.

"Well it's good to know I have a guardian angel, and it's good to see you again"

With that the yellow eyed man looked back at him, an obvious grin on his face even if it was hidden, he sheathed his long blade at his side then strolled over to his younger friend and tossed his left arm over the young man's shoulders while grinding his other hand into the slightly shorter man's head.

"You know you're always glad to see me little buddy!"

He let go and then raised both his hands behind his head.

"What do you say we get out'a here before the bigger badder mother of these three decides to check on them, we can catch up on the past on our way to Hera Settlement"

"Yeah…I've been out here for hours so a nice rest at an Inn would feel great"

With that, the two men began their journey in the direction of what was the nearest Settlement, both sharing stories about the time when they were apart not that Dean's mind was really on the stories he was telling seemingly automatically, his mind was on his friend.

He hadn't seen the older man in two years, and he had finally realised something. The Desert Kin warrior hadn't aged, not that one would age that much in two years but the heir to the desert Kin's leadership had the exact same appearance as when they had met roughly eight years ago, in fact if what the stories he'd heard when he was living with the clan were true, then young master Stephen hadn't aged since his eighteenth birthday, it was rather strange to say the least but after just a few minutes of being around his old friend his mind soon left that line of thought and returned to more pressing matters, like how was he going to pay for the mountains of food his friend would obviously devour at the Settlement, he sighed mentally at the thought, but in any case it was good to see the other man again.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two: Ghost Town Training

Night had long since fallen over the desert as the two figures travelled they reminisced about their time together and told stories about what they had been doing for the past few years since they last parted ways. Dean told his old friend of his adventures as a water hunter and how much he enjoyed the work even though it was harder than it needed to be.

The slightly taller of the two told his younger friend about some mishaps he had stumbled into on his search for the younger man, he had just gotten to a particularly amusing little story involving three thieves armed with daggers who had attacked Stephen first thing after he had awoken, attacking a Desert Kin was never the smartest of things to do and the fact that Dean knew the older man was anything but a morning person told him that the thieves were definitely very lucky to have their lives still intact.

He was definitely enjoying his friend's company when he was struck by the oddest feeling of uneasiness as his friend continued to talk rather animatedly.

"And then I took his dagger and shoved it up his—"

"Stephen," he raised his hand slightly and speaking cut off the taller of the two, the younger man's gaze was trained on something straight ahead of them and the Desert Kin couldn't help but follow his gaze, his brow furrowing at what he saw.

"The Hera Settlement…" the cloaked man's voice was much quieter than Dean had ever remembered it being, and he knew why.

The Settlement was indeed straight ahead of them, but there was something terribly wrong. It was night yet there was no light coming from the buildings; an eerie shadow seemed to have completely swallowed what was once one of the more peaceful settlements.

The younger of the two shook his head slightly as they stopped right outside the small town, it was quiet, not a strange thing during the nights but it was so quiet that Dean could hear his heartbeat increase slightly in tempo as dread began to engulf him and he automatically reached for his sword.

"Where is everyone…?"

Stephen had already drawn his gun and katana resting the latter on his shoulder slightly, his cloak tossed back to allow his arms more movement; his bronze claw and blade shimmered slightly in the moonlight as he readied himself for anything that could happen. He sniffed the air, letting his far superior sense of smell tell him the story of the empty, ghost town like settlement.

"Phiends must have attacked…"

A brief flash of worry passed over the water hunter's face, it wasn't unheard of for Phiends to attack the Settlements but it was still very rare, they much preferred to wait for wary travellers in the desert to give them an advantage on their hunt, he kept his eyes trained in front of him as he spoke over to his friend.

"Any survivors?"

The Desert Kin sniffed at the air some more, his well-trained senses taking everything in.

"No blood…they must have evacuated when the attack happened"

Dean let out a relieved sigh at that, before jutting into a ready position as he heard movement further into the town. His eyes were trained straight ahead into the shadows and his mind focused entirely on everything around him.

"Hey Dean," he could hear the smirk his friend wore as he spoke, "what do you say to a little training, I'd like to see if you can still wield that butter knife"

The water hunter couldn't help but smirk back, "Alright, I'm up for it. I just hope you still know how to use that pop gun of yours"

Stephen let out a slight chuckle, "Alright then, first one to ten kills wins"

"You're on!"

With that the pair ran off into the shadows, eagerly awaiting the first wave of Phiends that were stupid enough to attack the two, it was even more dangerous to attack them during their competitive streaks than it was when one had just woke up, Dean inwardly felt a little sorry for the Phiends they were bound to face sooner or later, but smiled anyway. It felt like the old days already.

OOO

"Now this is too easy!" Dean's voice rang out in the clear night air.

It didn't take long for the two to be attacked; they were currently facing a group of three Ahriman, green ones at that. They resembled pretty much flying eyes with bat wings and a mouth lined with small sharp teeth directly below their one and only eye.

Stephen smiled a rather usual confident one, as he stood with his left hand closer to the group of Phiends while twirling his magnum on his index finger, his right hand was raised and holding his blade over his shoulder to add more force to the slash when he finally unleashed his for force on anything that got close enough, his knees were bent slightly allowing him to leap from that spot if the need arose.

Dean stood to the Desert Kin's right, sharing the confident smile that his older friend had. He was partially leaning forward, his knees slightly bent making it look as if he would break into a run towards the enemy at any moment, his plain bronze sword was clutched tightly in both his hand, holding it out to his right ready to attack or defend against anything stupid enough to get within his range.

"Yo Dean, allow me to enlighten you a bit, little buddy"

Dean watched his friend out of the corner of his eye, both making sure to keep well aware of the creatures before them, "Alright, what you got?"

"Well, you have to remember to keep locked onto just one of the enemies, trying to attack a group with anything short of a spell is idiotic, but first I'd like to see how you're physical attack is…go ahead, attack!"

With that the younger of the two crouched down slightly lower before lunging forward towards the Ahriman on the far right and with one swift vertical slash of his blade the creature succumbed to its after life, then before any of the other Phiends could strike him Dean had dashed back to his previous area, standing once again in a ready position.

Stephen nodded to his friend.

"Not bad Dean, not bad…but let me show you how to do some real damage!"

Before the remaining Ahriman could come to terms with what had just happened the Desert Kin charged forward, his brown cloak billowing behind him as he dashed towards the Ahriman on the left and before the bat-like-eye creature could do anything he slashed his powerful blade through the creature and it joined the other in death, Stephen then jumped backwards landing in his ready position next to his friend.

"Not bad, but I can do better" with that the water hunter charged forward again towards the remaining Ahriman, but as he slashed his blade upwards this time the flying Phiend flapped its small yet powerful wings to send itself high into the air and just out of the swordsman's reach.

"Huh! No fair!"

Stephen let out a chuckle and shook his head slightly, "You'll never get it like that Dean, you need a long range weapon like my 'Pop Gun'"

His smile widened slightly as he took careful aim at the flying creature with his Magnum, and squeezed the trigger lightly, and then with a small yet brilliant explosion of the gun's power the Ahriman was brought down from the skies permanently.

Stephen's grin widened slightly again as he spun his firearm one last time before holstering it, he kept his katana rested against his shoulder and then saluted the deceased creatures with his index and middle finger of his now unarmed hand, "Hey, I never lose"

Dean smiled to his friend and shook his head.

"We should get going"

OOO

After another all too brief venture through the ghost town the two were attacked by two blue blob like creatures with yellow eyes, Ice Flans if Dean remembered correctly, next to them was a much larger creature that seemed to be made of rock and was curled up into a large boulder, in fact that's what it would have looked like if it weren't for the bug like face peering from its two circular rock like arms. It was a shell type, called a Barbarian Stone.

The two men were once again in their ready positions for this battle; Dean lined himself up with the sell type creature.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you…"

But it was too late, the younger man had already charged forward and tried to bring his sword up and through the creature, but the metal blade only bounced back and before he knew it he had been sent skidding back to his original spot by a rather powerful rock like wing.

"How in the…"

Stephen answered the question before Dean could finish however, "You need an attack with a little more oomph little buddy, here I'll show you"

With that, he charged forward as he had done once before and before the rock monster could do anything to try and dodge, not that its inanely slow body could, the powerful bronze blade slashed into its head, shattering the creature's body in one attack, Stephen leaped back to his starting spot beside his friend again and the two stood ready.

Both flans skidded forward and tried to strike the two warriors with spring like head butts but they were two slow and both attacks were easily dodged, unluckily for Dean he had tried to counter with an attack of his own only for it to bounce off again. He was ready for the retaliation this time however and jumped back to dodge another spring like attack.

"You need to use magic on these things; I think fire should do just nicely"

The Desert Kin concentrated into his gun and soon the bronze firearm began to glow with a red light, he then smiled at the flan closest to him, "Lzji hms g vgsviwc! Hzsi!" with that yell he aimed his magnum and fired the burning spell towards the now very much defenceless blob of blue goop, with a strange liquid like shriek the creature was reduced to little more than a puddle.

"Oh I get you," with that the younger of the two men started to concentrate his energy into his right hand as he held the blade now firmly in his left, "Time for a roast! Fire!" with that he thrust his hand forward his opening his palm towards the monster and blasting the fire spell into the pathetic blob which died in much the same comical way as its predecessor.

Dean smiled widely as he spun his sword in his right hand before stabbing it into the ground and standing as tall as he could, "Yeah! That's what I'm talking about!"

OOO

The two warriors were currently standing in what was once a weapon shop, now nothing more than a load of useless items sprawled all over the floor. The place was a mess but the two continued to search for anything that they could use while they chatted amongst themselves.

"So Dean, its nine a piece now…means who ever gets the next one wins"

As they had continued through the deserted streets they soon discovered that it wasn't as deserted as it looked, but none of the Phiends they fought were much of a challenge for the two fighters.

"Yeah, and that will be me"

Dean retorted as he pushed another heavy box out of his way while continuing his search, they had found three potions and two ethers in the item shop that was next door to the weapon shop, but the armour shop was empty and now it would appear that this building was also…

"Yo, Stephen I found a blade you could use"

Stephen walked over to his shorter friend, his body hidden by his long cloak making him seem almost sinister.

"Really?"

"Yeah" with that Dean lifted a long silver blade that had a black streak along the cutting edge of it, the blade also widened substantially towards the end.

Stephen took the blade in his bronze claw and seemed to weigh its balance a little before spinning it slightly and letting it rest against his shoulder, a grin very much evident on his face.

"The Nodachi…it'll do me just nicely…"

Dean raised an eyebrow at his friend's antics, and then shrugged it off as he picked his sword back up and started on his way out of the building.

"I think we should head now, its getting pretty late…"

"Afraid of the dark?"

Dean gave his friend a mock glare as they exited the building, his sword resting in its sheath and his arms folded over his chest.

"Hardy, har, har…I just want to find a place to get some sleep before it gets too…"

Dean was interrupted as he threw himself to the side, barely dodging the colossal scaly tail that slammed into the wall where he was, demolishing it in a heartbeat. He hit the ground in a rough roll, unsheathing his sword as he came back to his feet, spinning to face his attacker.

It was a large serpentine creature with a woman's torso and snakes tail, its hands were clawed and its eyes a shining black as it glared at the young water hunter. The tail itself was a strange pink colour while the rest of its body was yellowish cream and its hair red.

It soon let out a cry of pain as Stephen lunged past it, blade slashing across the creature's mid section as he landed to his friend's left.

"A Naga huh? This should be interesting…" Stephen readied himself in his usual stance.

"A Naga? So that's what they look like…" Dean also dropped to his stance.

Both warriors stood ready, waiting for the strange creature to attack. They didn't have to wait long as it raised itself back on its serpent's tail and launched forward, claws ready. But they were too fast as Stephen seemed to almost glide backwards away from the monster, Dean flipping upward into the air and over it while twisting so he would land on it.

He stabbed his sword hard into the monster's back, spilling green blood as it reared back in pain, thrashing madly trying to dislodge the water hunter, inadvertently giving the other fighter a perfect shot at its chest.

"Take this…"

With that he aimed and fired several shots into the monster's chest with his magnum, each punching small holes that spurted more of its blood, it retaliated by lashing its tail around at them but he floated into the air in an easy leap, flipping before landing on the ground on the other side of its tail slashing his blade down through it, the tip of its tail soon started its useless trek of flopping around on the ground.

The monster hissed in pain again, a blood curdling sound of agony, this gave Dean the chance he needed as he launched himself up from the creature's back and around to its front, slashing his sword vertically down its chest as it screamed in pain once again.

But as it thrashed its tail it managed to strike Dean hard in the side, sending him skidding across the rough sandy ground and into a wall.

Stephen tried to counter for his friend by lunging forward towards the monster but in turn left himself wide open for its charge, it drove its head hard into the desert warrior's gut, driving the air from his lungs and sending him crashing back into the weapon shop.

Dean pushed himself back to his feet and watched wide eyed as the building's walls gave way and soon caved in, surely crushing his friend.

"STEPHEN!" his mind raced, suddenly filled with so much anger that he felt he was going to explode, but somehow his anger found a away to fuel his strength as the blade in his hands started to glow bronze and he glared at the monster.

"You…you're going…DOWN!"

With that the young fighter launched himself forward with speed he didn't know he had, raising his still glowing sword vertically through the monster as he leaped into the sky and then brought himself and the sword crashing down hard back into the ground and through the serpent monster in a yell of fury and monster blood.

The creature died then and there, barely letting out a gurgle of pain through its mouth which was quickly filling with its own fluid of life before collapsing with a twitch to the ground.

"Amazing, an Ezjzl Vsigd…a Limit Break…"

Dean spun, his breath still heavy and his arms feeling like lead and there before him was a dusty and rather impressed looking Stephen who seemed to be perfectly fine.

"Stephen! But…the building…"

Stephen turned to his friend; an eyebrow slightly raised then remembered that a building had just fallen on him.

"What? You thought something as small as a building collapsing on me would do me in?"

Dean could only smile, and shake his head as he rather painfully re-sheathed his sword.

"You'll never change…but what's a Limit Break?"

Stephen looked at his friend in amazement.

"You don't know what a Limit Break is!"

Dean shook his head, and the Desert Kin warrior let out an exasperated sigh as they started to walk along beside each other.

"Well…you see every living thing on this planet has a supply of what is called Essence or a soul in their body. Now when this energy is harnessed it allows people to perform extraordinary acts of power called Limit Breaks, they are different for every person and grow stronger the stronger that person…this energy can be harnessed in many ways, such as being hurt or the adrenalin of battle pumping through your veins, or more commonly because of an intense surge of emotion…such as the anger of seeing a friend harmed…as your body has grown adapt at using a sword, your Limits will be sword based most likely…"

Dean thought for a moment as the two continued to walk, before smiling and exclaiming:

"Cool! I guess…I'll call that the Blade Breaker…so have you ever performed any?"

Dean turned to his friend to see that the taller man had grown painfully quiet and decided that it was a touchy subject that would have to be dealt with another time. But just then something very important came to mind.

"You know what's great Stephen?"

Stephen raised an eyebrow, his slight ditch of depression forgotten, "What?"

Dean's grin widened.

"I won"

((The strange language that Stephen is speaking occasionally is his people's language known as quite simply Desert Kin, the first line was: "Time for a barbecue! Fire!" and the next was him saying Limit Break in Desert Kin ((PS: I mad the language myself so it's copyrighted by me!))


End file.
